A mango tree is a medium to large (about 30 to 90 feet) evergreen with a symmetrical, rounded canopy ranging from low and dense to upright and open. The bark of the mango tree is usually dark grey-brown to black, generally smooth, and superficially cracked or fissured. The mango tree forms a long unbranched long taproot plus a dense mass of superficial feeder roots. In deep soil, the taproot descends to a depth of about 20 feet. The profuse, wide-spreading feeder roots also send many anchor roots which penetrate for several feet.
The leaves of a typical mango tree may be about 4 to 12 inches in length and ¾ to 2 inches in width. The leaves may have a variety of shapes such as oval-lanceolate, lanceolate, oblong, linear-oblong, ovate, obovate-lanceolate, or roundish-oblong. Hermaphrodite and male flowers are produced in the same panicle. The flowers are usually yellowish or reddish in color and are borne in profuse, showy, erect, pyramidal, branched clusters in the fruits. The size of both the male and hermaphrodite flowers varies from about ¼ to ½ inches in diameter.
The mango fruit is generally a compressed, fleshy drupe. It varies considerably in size, shape, color, fiber content, flavor, and taste. The fruit may be nearly round, oval, ovoid-oblong, or somewhat kidney-shaped, and is usually more or less lop-sided. The fruit ranges from 2½ to 10 inches in length and from a few ounces to 4 or 5 pounds. The skin of the fruit is leathery, waxy, smooth, fairly thick, aromatic and ranges from light- or dark-green to clear yellow, yellow-orange, yellow and reddish-pink, or generally blushed with bright- or dark-red or purple-red, with fine yellow, greenish or reddish dots, and thin or thick whitish, gray, or purplish bloom, when fully ripe. The most characteristic feature of the fruit is the formation of a small conical projection developing laterally at the proximal end of the fruit, known as the beak. The beak may be prominent in some, less in others, and in some varieties it is represented merely as a dot.